Hokies Athletics: ACC Announces Autonomy Proposals

Nov 22, 2014; Winston-Salem, NC, USA; A Virginia Tech Hokies helmet lay on the sidelines during the game against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at BB&T Field. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports

Back in August, the NCAA voted on autonomy for the five major conferences and unsurprisingly, the vote passed. Since that point, conferences have been working on what autonomy will exactly mean for their specific conference. Today, the ACC became the first of the five major conferences to officially announce their proposals for autonomy within the ACC.

This is big news that will grab the attention of fans across the country whether it’s from the ACC, SEC, Big 12, Pac-12, Big 10, or any of the other conferences. What the ACC is proposing is significant not only because of what it is but also because of the fact that this will very likely pass easily.

The biggest headline from this proposal is the cost of attendance portion as that is almost certain to be covered by all five of the power 5 conferences and could be expanded beyond that depending on the conference, mainly by the Mountain West and the AAC.

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Of course, the ACC is probably working on the specific details of cost of attendance proposals but this makes tons of sense and will be great for athletes. This seems likely to not only pass but be implemented before the 2014-2015 collegiate athletics season concludes.

Loss-of-value insurance seems to makes sense given that this also preserves the current disability insurance. This type of insurance could also keep more underclassmen in school especially with how quickly a football career can end.

Guaranteed scholarship renewal is the third key component and should absolutely be passed. The fact that this wasn’t already certain is disappointing but when a school tells an athlete that they are giving them a scholarship, they should hold their end of the bargain up. This should absolutely happen.

This is the first domino to fall in the autonomy process and it will be interesting how Whit Babcock and Virginia Tech reacts to this. Folks, let us know what you think about this new autonomy.

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